Thoughts on everything from Politics to Video Games

Category: Vice President Biden

Like many people, I receive emails that proclaim complete lies as total truth and I spend time looking up the truth. When I send out a response, I back it up with the facts that I have gathered. Sometimes, I am able to research the email myself. I look at the government site or I check news stories. I usually get a response like, “Who said that?” (that’s what my mother always asks, as she doesn’t believe anything she doesn’t see on Fox News). I’ve even gotten a response that “we all can’t be the Queen of Information.” I chuckled at that one, as we all should be the “Queen of Information” (or, King – if you’re a guy).

Before you forward that email or proclaim a fact to someone that you read somewhere – do your homework.

I have found three sites that are trustworthy.

The first site is Break the Chain. I’ve been using Break the Chain for quite a few years. They specialize in those chain emails asking you to help find a lost child or telling you to boycott a store. My favorite untruth is the email that claims the ACLU is against Marines praying.

The second site is Snopes.com – if you’re forwarding emails without checking them via Snopes, you’re doing a disservice to your friends, family members and the causes that which you support. Snopes checks out the crazy emails and checks if they are true, semi-true or outright falsehoods. The best example of this is the email that claims Pepsi or Dr. Pepper (in some emails) is removing the words “Under God” from the Pledge of Allegiance on their cans.

The final site is Fact Check. Fact Check checks political statements made by just about anybody. They investigate, call people and get to the bottom of almost any political claim. They get accused all the time of being too right wing and too left wing. It all depends on the political stance of the reader. They were at their best during the 2008 Presidential election when they were checking speeches by Obama, Biden, McCain and Palin daily. They recently published an article against President Obama’s speech that blamed the GOP for blocking legislation that they didn’t block. (Not for a lack of trying, however.)

These are three great sites you should have bookmarked. When you receive an email that you plan on forwarding, take the time to make sure it is true. Try not to fill up other people’s email boxes with junk.